


Ten Events From the Life of Sirius Black, Slytherin

by feverbeats



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-10
Updated: 2010-06-10
Packaged: 2017-10-10 01:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/93636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius remembers what he said to the Potter boy on the train, about tradition and the possibility of breaking it, but all he can think about are the small, round burns on the tapestry in his house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten Events From the Life of Sirius Black, Slytherin

  
The hat settles over Sirius's eyes. "Hm," it says, its voice echoing oddly in his head. "Whole family in Slytherin. For generations."

Sirius remembers what he said to the Potter boy on the train, about tradition and the possibility of breaking it, but all he can think about are the small, round burns on the tapestry in his house. For a split second, fear wells up in him.

Before he can think anything else, the hat is saying, "Slytherin!" out loud for everyone to hear.

"Oh," Sirius says. When he stumbles into a seat by Lucius Malfoy, he feels sick.

*

"What's your name?" Sirius asks the Gryffindor boy in the patched clothes who sits near him in Potions.

"Remus," the boy says, turning around. His eyes are calm and strangely golden, but there's a hint of fear in them.

Sirius opens his mouth to say something about Remus's secondhand robes or ragged shoes, but his breath catches and all he can manage is, "How many lacewing flies are we supposed to add?"

Remus smiles gently. "You never pay attention, do you?"

"Not really," Sirius says, trying to sound older than eleven.

"All right. Let me help you with that, then."

*

"I hate you," Sirius tells Snape evenly. He's been telling him that for five weeks because it's the only thing that makes him feel better about the fact that he's been in three fist fights with James Potter already. He feels worse about the fights than the fact that he's lost two of them, but that doesn't exactly help, either.

"Fuck _off_," Snape snarls at him, ducking behind his potions book. "You're an arrogant prick, just like the rest of your damn family."

"Yeah? Say that again, you fucking half-blood," Sirius spits, and the words come so, so easily.

*

In their second year, Sirius makes the Quidditch team as a beater. He also gets kicked of the team after only two games. Their second game is against Gryffindor, and Potter gives him the finger ten minutes in.

Sirius doesn't even think. He just leaps from his broom onto Potter's, punching him in the back and as hard as possible. They both end up the hospital wing, furious and in trouble and covered in mud.

"I hate you," Sirius says, for lack of anything better to say.

Later, when Remus comes in to visit James, Sirius pretends to be asleep.

*

One good thing about second year is that Regulus is here. He follows Sirius everywhere, sometimes ruining his plans and sometimes making them a thousand times better. He's careful in ways Sirius is not, and he knows how to wait for what he wants.

"I wouldn't push Potter up against a wall and beat his face in if _I_ were you," he says calmly when Sirius suggests it.

Sirius knows it would make him feel better, but he doesn't say so. Regulus is probably right. Detention isn't worth the satisfaction of beating someone up, even someone as infuriating as Potter.

*

On his thirteenth birthday, Sirius walks out of a Slug Club party. He's tired of hearing about famous old families and the importance of being well-connected. All of that's just rubbish compared to being good at Quidditch and being able to flick a perfect spell out of your wand in Charms, but no one cares that he can do those things. Maybe if he were James Potter, they'd care.

He returns to his dorm to find birthday presents from his family, his friends, and Remus Lupin. He opens them all except the last, which he throws into the fire.

*

Sirius is fourteen when he has his first civil conversation with Snape. Both of them are sporting bruises from Potter, who is apparently rubbish at actual magic, and they catch each other's eye in Herbology. Snape gives a sharp little nod, not laced with fear for once.

After class, Sirius says, "Promise I won't punch you for a week if you help me get back at Potter."

Snape hesitates. "Only if you stop calling me Snivellus."

Sirius agrees, but only because Snape is brilliant at planning. The look on Potter's face when they ruin his Potions grade is worth it.

*

Sirius is fifteen when he sits down next to Snape at dinner and says, "Where do suppose Lupin goes all the time?"

Snape's eyes narrow like he's been thinking the same thing. "I don't know," he says carefully, but Sirius has seen him watching Lupin hungrily for months now.

"I vote we find out," Sirius says.

They end up nearly dying, and Sirius never forgets the sight of that twisted creature, half-boy, half-wolf, writhing in pain as it snaps at them, part of the way through its transformation.

Afterward, Snape paces the common room, swearing. Sirius says nothing.

*

When Sirius is sixteen, he joins the Death Eaters. This action, like everything else in his life so far, is just the product of inertia. The Mark hurts like hell and he resents his mother and Bellatrix and bloody Voldemort and everyone else in his life.

Snape stands next to him, face pale, staring at his own Mark like it's actually beautiful and not a fucking skull and snake. Sirius turns away. He never liked Snape, not really.

"Just look at it," Snape whispers, transfixed.

As if Sirius could stop himself looking. The snake in the design twitches a little.

*

When Sirius is seventeen, he finds Lupin alone in the library one night. The thing he wants the most and deserves the least is aid from Lupin, of all people. Without preamble, he strides over the table, shoves up his sleeve, and presents it to the other boy.

Lupin looks up from his stack of heavy books. "What? Oh, hi, Black. What's—" His face freezes when he sees the Mark.

"It was easier," Sirius say unevenly. "You know, when it was just lacewing flies."

Remus is silent for a long moment. Then he says, "Sit down. Let me help you."


End file.
